"It was good that he was out, though. You always want to take the QB out of the game"

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"It was good that he was out, though. You always want to take the QB out of the game"

This was system failure, maybe system overload for the NFL. You get a big game like Sunday night, Houston at Chicago, and hope to see statements made, questions answered.

We got statements, all right. When Houston linebacker Tim Dobbins cheap-shotted Jay Cutler — in the officials’ opinion — by going helmet-to-helmet after Cutler had thrown a pass, Dobbins was allowed to stay in the game. That was a statement about NFL rules.

It should be an automatic ejection.

Cutler stayed in the game, too, and then got hit in the head again on the next play. He stayed in for six plays after that, too, before sitting out the second half with a concussion. That was a statement, too. Did the Bears think about taking him out after the first hit? Cutler reportedly has suffered six concussions in his career.

“Didn’t have any symptoms, no,’’ Bears coach Lovie Smith said. “There were a lot of hard hits out there today. You can’t start taking guys out for that. When they’re injured, then we take them out.’’

You can’t start taking guys out of the game after they take a hard hit to the head. Statement.

The system isn’t protecting these guys well enough. To some extent, it just isn’t possible. But Sunday was a terrible day for Roger Goodell and the NFL image. Michael Vick was knocked out of his game with a concussion, and Alex Smith was knocked out of his with one, too.

The Bears also lost defensive end Shea McClellin to a concussion, but no one will even notice that. When stars are knocked out, people notice. And next week, Monday Night Football is supposed to have Cutler vs. Smith. Imagine the statement if neither quarterback of Super Bowl-contending teams can play because of concussions.

Look, I get sick of hearing about concussions, too. There is not a lot new to add to the discussion: The game is rough. The brain is vulnerable. Former players can’t go for a walk because they can’t find their way home. Kids are getting concussions, too, while parents dream of their son becoming a star. (That’s the sickest part, actually.)

But Sunday’s Bears-Texans game was just such a study in how concussions are played in a gray area. And Goodell is going to have to act again somehow, like before next Monday.

It was the second quarter Sunday, when Dobbins hit Cutler. On the same play, Cutler was penalized for crossing the line of scrimmage before throwing the ball. Once he crosses the line, isn’t he somewhat fair game, treated as a running back? On the other hand, when Cutler let go of the ball, Dobbins was 4 yards away. He didn’t lower his head till after Cutler threw.

“No,’’ said Dobbins, who says he doesn’t think he should be fined for the hit. “I felt like it was on time.’’

Do you think your hit was what gave Cutler the concussion?

“I have no idea,’’ he said. “No clue. But it was good that he was out, though. You always want to take the quarterback out of the game.’’

Think about that: Dobbins was just asked about Cutler’s concussion, a brain injury that has become a defining issue for football. And his response was that he was glad Cutler had been knocked out of the game.

Dobbins said that he normally would have tried to hit Cutler in the hip, knocking out his legs. But because Cutler was trying to throw, he aimed higher to disrupt the play. He said he hit Cutler in the chest, and was nowhere near the head. Replays show otherwise.

After the play, the game was stopped while the replay official decided whether Cutler had actually crossed the line before throwing. Cutler went over to the sideline. There was plenty of time to start asking him questions, gauge where his brain was.

Cutler ran the ball on the next play, and didn’t slide before getting hit in the head again.

“He should slide when he should slide,’’ Smith said. “That’s about it. We don’t want him taking any extra shots. That’s part of it.’’

Cutler would end the drive with an interception, and it’s hard to say if that was just a bad throw or a confused one.

But Smith was insistent that Cutler didn’t show any symptoms until halftime.

“He took some shots,’’ Smith said. “It (a concussion) could happen any time. We just know that at that half, that’s when he did have some symptoms.’’

What symptoms?

“Whatever the symptoms are for a concussion,’’ Smith said. “I mean, I wasn’t in there. I’m going to let the doctors handle that. I try not to be Dr. Smith very often.’’

I’m not saying that the Bears chose to play Cutler while knowing that he had a concussion. They clearly didn’t, as they took him out in a close game at halftime. But it just seems that there should have been so much more caution shown, from Smith and from the league. If officials rule that a player cheap-shotted another one in the head, then he should be kicked out.

Without Cutler in the second half, it was hard to draw football conclusions from the game. It had rained all day in Chicago, too, and the field was slop. Houston won 13-6. And maybe it proved that a dome team can win in the elements against a good team on the road.

The Bears have beaten up on an incredibly soft schedule all year. But the defense held up against a good team in the second half.

One rule that many football fans can appreciate (especially when their team benefits) is when a personal foul is called on the defense and it takes priority, even if a minor 5-yard penalty is called on the offense on the same play.

When the rule is applied, there is a 15-yard walkoff against the defense and it also results in an automatic first down. The rule takes into account that the personal foul is the more serious infraction.

One of the biggest plays in the Bears-Texans game on Sunday night football also appeared to involve this rule. The play occurred late in the first half with the Bears on offense near midfield, trailing, 10-3. On a third-and 8, a personal foul was called on Texans linebacker Tim Dobbins for a hit to the head of quarterback Jay Cutler, who had just released a pass to receiver Devin Hester. Hester dashed all the way to the Houston 10, and Cutler was shaken up and later found to have a concussion.

The Bears should have been in business, right?

Wrong.

After sorting out the flags thrown, the referee Gene Steratore cited Cutler for an illegal forward pass for being beyond the line of scrimmage when he released the ball. The pass was so close to being legal that Chicago Coach Lovie Smith challenged the ruling on the field. Steratore denied the challenge even though it looked upon further review that Cutler’s right foot appeared to be at the line of scrimmage.

The end result? Offsetting penalties and a replay of third down. The reason? An illegal forward pass is not deemed a simple 5-yard penalty because it also involves a loss of down. The “5 yard vs. 15 yard” exception, which allows for the personal foul to be enforced, didn’t apply.

The inequity in the result was that it didn’t seem to take into account the seriousness of the infraction against the Texans’ Dobbins. Cutler threw an interception three plays later and didn’t return to the field for the second half. Cutler will probably miss at least one game. As for Dobbins, there seems to be little doubt he will be fined for the high and late hit in which he also led with his helmet. (Amazingly, he claimed it was Cutler who ran into him.)

Yet according to N.F.L. rules, the infractions on the play — the personal foul vs. the illegal forward pass — were deemed equal enough to be ruled offsetting. The referee had no judgment on the matter.

Imagine if the following scene had unfolded: a concussed Cutler laid out on the field after a clearly illegal hit to the head, being attended to by Bears personnel, while Steratore explained that the penalties were offsetting and that third down would be replayed. If the N.F.L. cares about player safety the way it says it does, maybe it needs rules that back that up in every instance, taking away the incentive for cheap-shot hits.

It would seem to make sense for the referee to have the jurisdiction to make a more balanced decision in real time, especially if replay can confirm its accuracy.

There were so many things wrong with that call, other than the obvious. Should Cutler have been considered a RB at that point because he was past the LOS? Was Cutler actually past the LOS? Should the 5 vs. 15 automatically offset? How do you justify offsetting a personal foul penalty?

when this happened i knew we were not going to win. The bears love to get screwed by the refs..but gould shouldve made that field goal and marshall shouldve caught that pass so i am not saying the refs cost us this one

Clearly a hit where he was targeting above the shoulders, clearly led with the head, clearly hit Cutler in the head. If that's a WR that's still an unsportsmanlike shot against a defenseless player in my book. Any way you slice it, that's a fine. I don't know if he should have been ejected, he didn't launch into the hit. Debatable whether it was an illegal forward pass or not.

We don't even know for sure that's when Cutler took the concussion, either.

This is the point that needs to be made across the NFL and the reason for the future struggles of the NFL if the culture/rules aren't changed/enforced.

Why the league continues to split hairs over infractions when the star players of the league are subjected to prolonged injury is beyond me. Assuming Cutler is out next week, it's absurd to even look at the play and question his positioning on the field, his status as a runner, or any number of legalities if the result of the play is still a severe injury.

Clearly a hit where he was targeting above the shoulders, clearly led with the head, clearly hit Cutler in the head. If that's a WR that's still an unsportsmanlike shot against a defenseless player in my book. Any way you slice it, that's a fine. I don't know if he should have been ejected, he didn't launch into the hit. Debatable whether it was an illegal forward pass or not.

We don't even know for sure that's when Cutler took the concussion, either.

To me, it looked like he got the concussion after that hit. He seemed composed until that 2nd hard hit. Medically, I don't know if that makes sense, but he seemed normal initially after that hit.